The Americas Post - The alleged Chilean spy is the one wearing the Jack Daniels t-shirt

Peru’s government said Wednesday it is investigating an alleged Chilean spy arrested in the vicinity of a military airbase in the north, in a case that could cast a shadow over relations between Lima and Santiago.

Defense Minister Alberto Otárola, said when Luis Maximiliano Seraín was arrested he had in his possession a CD,  a USB memory stick and “some writings” that are being investigated by the local public prosecutor.

“From what we know he is a Chilean citizen who was arrested near the barracks of El Pato military base in Talara.  I can not provide or confirm more details because I repeat is in full investigation,” Otárola told journalists.

In 2009, Peru and Chile engaged in a diplomatic row after the arrest of a Peruvian Air Force officer, who was accused of sending classified information to Chile.  After a year of research, a military court in Peru convicted the officer, formerly employed in the Peruvian Embassy in Santiago, to 25 years in prison.

This new espionage case involving Chile, a major investor in Peru, comes at a time when both South American countries are in international court disputing differences in their maritime boundaries.

Chilean government spokesman Andrew Chadwick said in Santiago they are fully confident that the person arrested in Peru has no link with Chilean state activities.

“We are absolutely clear on the country’s foreign policy in relation to our neighbors.  We never want to risk any type of situation that could harm our relations,” he said.

“As a government we deal with these situations calmly and wisely,” he added.

Relations between Peru and Chile, both major mineral exporters, have gone through ups and downs since they fought a war in the late nineteenth century.  Despite the friction, trade links and business between the two countries have grown rapidly in recent years.

The Americas Post - A demonstrator's poster shows how many years each hostage has been held by FARC guerrillas. Photo Credit: AFP

FARC guerrillas on Wednesday postponed releasing six Colombian soldiers held for over a decade, claiming that the area where the prisoners were to be freed has been occupied by government troops.

“The area we had chosen for the release of prisoners of war captured in battle has been unfairly militarized by the Government of Colombia, which forces us to defer the operation,” the rebel group said in a statement released on the internet.

The FARC, weakened by a military offensive supported by the U.S. but still able to execute high-impact attacks, announced in December the release of six of the 11 Armed Forces personnel held for more ten years, but the delivery has not yet been finalized.  Late last year other hostages were killed by rebels during combat with the Army,  which had discovered FARC encampments in the jungle.

President Juan Manuel Santos questioned the position of the FARC, considered by U.S. and European Union as a terrorist organization and said the government did not know the hostages were in that area.

“By God, no more tricks and deceit.  We do not even know where the hostage are. They have not given coordinates. Release them now,” Santos said through his Twitter account.

However, the Armed Forces admitted operating throughout the country in fulfilling the mission of pursuing the illegal armed groups.

Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón, accused the rebel group of playing with the hostages and their families as part of a strategy to gain political prominence nationally and internationally and clean up its criminal image.

“These people once again demonstrates the lies they tell and how deeply and permanently they play with the Colombian people,” said the official.

The guerrilla organization have held up to 60 hostages at times, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans, who they sought to exchange for imprisoned guerrillas.

But many were rescued by the Armed Forces and others escaped or died in the jungle. Some have been released by the FARC in phases during recent years.

“As soon as the insanity that has gripped Nariño Palace (the Presidency) abates, we will make a new attempt for you to receive those who will be released,” added the FARC.

The Americas Post - Yes, U.S. Marine Generals carry their own rifles. Photo Credit: USMC

President Barack Obama has chosen a Marine to run U.S. military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean out of the Southern Command in Miami.

The new Southcom leader is Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly, who enlisted in 1970 and was followed by both sons to the Corps as well.  The youngest, 1st Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, was killed on patrol in Afghanistan in 2010.

The Pentagon announced Kelly’s promotion in a brief statement Friday afternoon.  Pending the required Senate confirmation, there was no immediate word on when he would succeed Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser, the current commander.

Over six feet tall and in his 60s, Kelly is currently senior military advisor to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, served multiple deployments in Iraq and worked as a Defense Department representative on Capitol Hill.   He commanded troops in Fallujah, Iraq, and at one time  had tens of thousands of Americans and Iraqi soldiers under his command.  A 1976 graduate of the University of Massachusetts, he joined the Marines before going to the university, served for two years as an enlisted infantryman out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., and left as a sergeant.

Sources were unable to confirm whether Kelly previously served in the Caribbean and Latin America.  More than 1,000 Defense and other government employees work out of Southcom headquarters in Doral, which he has been chosen to run, on a range of Defense projects from humanitarian relief operations to the detention center at Guantánamo.  Southcom also runs regional training exercises that team up U.S. forces with foreign armies and navies, which senior Pentagon officials have pointed to as the future of a  downsized U.S. military force across the globe.

The CIA Director visited La Macarena in the state of Meta, center of Colombia. He met with the Defense Minister and Military Commanders of the Colombian Armed Forces.

Colombia’s government today praised U.S. support for strengthening systems of technical (Sigint) and human intelligence (Humint)  in the fight against illegal organizations like FARC operating in this South American country.

“With the support of the U.S. government we are strengthening our systems of technical and human intelligence,” said Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón, through a statement.

He added that “there must be no place in Colombia where terrorists and criminals can hide undetected.”

Minister  Pinzon and Director of the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) United States, Gral. David Petraeus, visited La Macarena last Friday in the southern province of Meta, one of the areas where the illegal groups and drug traffickers operate.

With these meetings Colombia “will continue to strengthen cooperation ties between the two countries and strengthen the commitment to continue fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and transnational crime,” said the Defense Ministry statement.

The Americas Post Security News. U.S. Armed Forces, including this fighter, shift operations to the cloud. Photo Credit iStockPhoto

To defend the U.S. military’s information assets, Pentagon leaders say defense computers must be tied to the cloud — meaning an online environment that can be centrally locked down. Yet it’s difficult to police parts of that environment manufactured or even housed in countries that stand accused of cyberespionage, experts say.

The shift of military operations to the cloud  will require protecting electronics manufactured in Asia from supply chain tampering, say some private security auditors. But that won’t necessarily mean inspecting every network component made in China

“Our clouds are running off of hardware that’s built in China,” said…READ MORE HERE

The Americas Post - Colombian troops disembarking on the Caguan River are not there to talk

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday rejected the possibility of reopening peace talks with that country’s FARC leftist rebels, until the group takes concrete steps towards ending 50 years of combat.

His reaction came one day after FARC leader Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londoño suggested terms for resuming negotiations, which were frozen a decade ago.  Those proposed topics included privatization, environmental protection, the free market and military doctrine.

“We don’t want more rhetoric; the nation asks for clear peaceful deeds”, Santos tweeted in response.

The oldest active guerrilla group in Latin America has been weakened in recent years by a US backed military offensive that has taken the lives of several FARC commanders and caused thousands of rebel desertions.  Although they have retreated to the mountains and jungles, FARC fighters are still capable of staging effective attacks, including against Colombia’s oil-producing infrastructure.

Santos has demanded that the guerrillas free hostages, suspend attacks and lay down their arms.  FARC leaders have rejected those conditions but left open the possibility of a negotiated settlement.

Failed peace negotiations between 1999 and 2002 took place in the Caguan region, a demilitarized zone measuring twice the size of El Salvador.  During those talks the rebels did not cease combat operations, and the Colombian armed forces accused them of using the area as a base for attacks, arms trafficking and drug smuggling.  For many Colombians, the zone proved the FARC’s unwillingness to put an end to the long war that has cost the country so much blood and money.

“You can forget about a new Caguan”, Santos said.

The Americas Post - Drug trafficking accusations are no obstacle for the Chavez administration

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez this week appointed a new defense minister, described by the United States as a “drug kingpin” involved in cocaine smuggling from next-door Colombia.

“This good soldier, this humble soldier … this fighter for the people, today I publicly designate him as the new defense minister of the Republic,” Chavez announced while naming General Henry Rangel Silva to the post.

In 2008, the U.S. Treasury Department accused Rangel and another top Venezuelan officer of supporting narcotics trafficking operations by Colombian FARC guerrillas.  Both men denied any connection.

President Chavez  has repeatedly denied U.S. accusations that his government has turned a blind eye to drug trafficking.  He in turn accuses the United States of being a decadent empire that exploits developing countries.

The Venezuelan leader is expected to reshuffle his cabinet in the next few months to allow several of his current ministers to run in regional elections later this year.

Sharing a long border with Colombia, Venezuela has become a transshipment point for Colombian cocaine en route to consumer nations.  Chavez suspended cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005 when he accused its agents of spying and violating Venezuelan sovereignty.

He claims his administration has invested millions of dollars in anti-narcotic operations, pointing to the extradition of accused druglords to Colombia and an increase in drug-related arrests as proof of Venezuela’s efforts.

Diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the United States have been icy for years, in spite of the fact that South American nation still provides nearly 10 percent of US fuel imports.

In September, Washington accused four close Chavez allies of providing arms to FARC rebels in Colombia, a charge which Venezuela described as “abusive.”

The Americas Post - It doesn't look like much, but this boat carried over a ton of marijuana

Federal authorities captured a Mexican motorboat with over a ton of marijuana north of Los Angeles early Wednesday,  arresting 10 suspects in the latest of a growing number of West Coast maritime smuggling attempts.

U.S. Border Patrol agents found the 27-foot craft packed with numerous bales of marijuana on the coast of Ventura County shortly before dawn, according to a news release from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Authorities also impounded two vehicles in the landing area suspected of involvement in the smuggling attempt.

Four of those arrested arrived on board the boat, while the other six were detained in the landing area, the agency reported.

In recent years improved security along the United States border with Mexico has increasingly forced traffickers to smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants north by sea.  Between January and October of 2011, authorities recorded 26 maritime smuggling attempts in the greater Los Angeles area, including seven in Ventura County.  Since then, 10 further cases included two in Ventura County and one in Santa Barbara County.

In response to increased activity in the Los Angeles area, authorities have extended the use of marine patrols, land-based surveillance and collaboration with the Mexican government.